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Shaman
The shaman is a hybrid class and depending on how players choose to customize their character's talents, they can specialize in offensive spellcasting, melee damage dealing, or healing. As such, the class is considered one of the most adaptable and versatile in the game. Shamans can also provide support to a group in the form of stationary totems, of which when placed on the ground by the shaman, either provides various benefits to party members, or deal damage to enemies, of which the range is determined by the totem placed. Background Shamans are spiritual visionaries of tribes and clans. These gifted warriors who can see into the world of spirits and communicate with creatures invisible to eyes of normal beings. They are beset by visions of the future and use their sight to guide their people through troubled times. Although the shaman may seem wise and serene at first glance, he is a formidable foe; when angered, his wrath is as fierce as those who have a connection to Eternals or nature.World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, pg 71 History Shamanism has existed since the sapient races first discovered the power of the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. On Draenor, now shattered Outland, the orcs were shamanistic; on Azeroth, trolls and tauren were shamanistic. Though shamanism on Azeroth flourished and still continues to, shamanism on Draenor was all but extinct by the time of the great crossing of the Horde into Azeroth via the Dark Portal. The greatest and yet some of the most vilified orcs were once shaman; Zuluhed the Whacked, Ner'zhul, and even Gul'dan were all previously shaman. However, Kil'jaeden, current lord over the Burning Legion, distorted the shaman's connection with their spirits in the sacred mountain of Oshu'gun, himself taking on the form of the shaman's ancestors to convince the shaman (who held much political sway in the orcish culture) that the Draenei were the enemy. The ensuing massacres upon several Draenei hunting parties offended the spirits, who eventually denied the shaman their powers. All was set for the transition. Cut off from their elemental powers, the former shamans turned to the more efficient and masterful powers of the Burning Legion, becoming Warlocks. Though many tried to hang onto their roots, it was impossible. Even Drek'Thar was sucked into the dark magics, though he later repented and to this day has never forgiven himself for the acceptance of the demonic corruption that plagues himself and the orc race. Ner'zhul was the warlock who created the portals from Draenor to many other worlds. The many portals ripped Draenor apart creating the ravaged land of Outland. He repented but was dragged back into the fold by Kil'jaeden who promised him an endless existence of suffering and pain if he did not serve the Legion. Ner'zhul accepted this second chance at serving the Legion and was changed into the mighty being the Lich King and currently inhabits the body of Arthas Menethil his first and most powerful of the second generation of Death knights. Shamanism in the orcs was all but extinct until Thrall, the son of the deceased Durotan and future chieftain of the Frostwolf clan, grabbed hold of the reins of Warchief of the New Horde ushering in a new generation of shamanism, breaking the crippling lethargy of the captive orcs and outlawing the dark magic of the Burning Legion. At the time of the internment camps, a shaman was a derogatory term for someone who told fantastical and unbelievable stories.Lord of the Clans, pg 98 Shamanism is now in good repute, though, as the New Horde itself was led for a long time by Thrall, a shaman of great power. Overview The shaman class was originally only available to three of the Horde races: tauren, orcs, and trolls. Designed as a counterpart to the Paladin, the shaman class was once unavailable to the Alliance. This was said to create much trouble in developing both classes since they needed to be balanced against each other. In parties, shamans make the quintessential fifth member; supplementing the others with powerful buffs (using their totems and shields) along with healing or damage on par with other, more specialized classes. Shamans have the ability to resurrect themselves once every 30 minutes using their ability. In addition to its uses within a fight, this, in combination with their ability to resurrect other players, makes shamans a viable utility for wipe recovery. Originally, shamans almost allowed a tanking roleShaman Q&A by Ghostcrawler and Dev Team through the enhancement talent tree. However, their lack of heavy plate armor and the various changes made to their talent trees over time have phased out their tanking potential in favor of healing and damage dealing. While most shamans are capable of adequately tanking instances prior to reaching level 60, higher level areas and instances require tanks to have stronger passive defenses and damage mitigation than shamans have, despite their versatility and healing abilities. Notable shamans Shaman organizations * Earthen Ring: A group of shamans employing all races connected to the elemental spirits, including orcs, taurens, trolls, mag'har, broken, lost ones, draenei and even a few of the Wildhammer dwarves with some Goblins turning to Shamanism for profit, some have become true Shaman in the order. * Unnamed Draenei shaman brotherhood led by Farseer Nobundo. Races The shaman class can be played by the following races: The shaman class is exclusive to Horde (Taurens, Orcs, and Trolls). Each Race has its own distinct advantage, no matter its class; consequently, many players who wish to play shamans factor in the advantages and abilities of the various races when starting their characters. Some prefer tauren for their racial ability, as shamans themselves do not possess any ability to stun. Others prefer orcs as stun effects don't last as long when used against them, which is helpful versus a rogue, as well as against a shadow priest; likewise, the orcs' racial ability can be very useful for a shaman because they get a bonus to both their melee attacks and spell damage. Both of these abilities are very useful in PvP. Still others enjoy playing trolls because of their and powers, and the bonus which can allow them to level more quickly. In the end, the choice of race is up to the player, and often comes down to a matter of aesthetics more than anything else. As long as the player enjoys the race they have chosen, many will simply ignore the mathematics. Talent trees Blizzard Shaman Talent Tree for 1.12.1 http://www.wowprovider.com/Old.aspx?talent=11215875_7 Elemental The elemental tree focuses on the shaman's offensive spell casting ability. It decreases the mana cost and casting time of spells via talents while increasing their damage and critical strike chances. The 31 point talent is the AOE ability Earthquake. Overall, elemental is the best build for shamans who want to maximize their damage output with their spells. Enhancement By spending talent points in the Enhancement tree, shamans greatly increases their melee damage output. Signature abilities of this tree include: Dual Wield, giving shamans the ability to dual wield 1H-Weapons; Lava Lash, an instant attack that deals more damage if the offhand weapon is enchanted with Flametongue Weapon; Stormstrike, which allows the shaman to hit with both weapons at once, also increasing the shaman's chance to critically hit the target with nature spells by 25 % for 15 seconds. The 31 point talent is Feral Spirit, allowing the enhancement shaman to summon a pair of wolves that provide stun, taunt, sprint and passive heals along with extra damage. The enhancement shaman will prefer slow weapons, as 1) Flametongue Weapon (primarily used on off-hand) does passive damage based on weapon speed, increasing with slower weapons, and 2) most of the enhancement shaman's offensive abilities have a semi-long cooldown (5-15 seconds), making it more attractive to increase the damage output of abilities rather than attack speed. For PvP, playing an enhancement shaman is along the lines of playing a retribution paladin, but with wearing mail armor instead of plate. The Maelstorm weapon procs allow the shaman to cast instant heals on themselves and their party members free of charge, and also have an offensive dispel to purge enemy buffs. Since the shaman only has two main direct damaging abilities (Lava Lash and Stormstrike), they rely heavily on Windfury procs for large damage, and frostbrand strikes to keep the enemy slowed. In times of dire need, the shaman can call upon their spirit wolves to aid in the freedom from all roots, extra healing, and cc if needed. While a shaman running at you might not seem threatening at first, when they finally reach you, its as if you were fighting the elements themselves. Restoration The restoration tree focuses on the shaman's healing capability, reducing the casting time and mana cost of healing spells, while increasing their effectiveness. Restoration shamans are well suited for any healing situation in the game. On top of that they offer good utility (like Mana Regeneration by Mana Tide Totem), and the best multi-target heal spell in the game (Chain Heal), giving them excellent potential as raid-wide healers. The 11 point talent, Riptide, gives the shaman an instant cast heal and a HoT. This tree is highly useful in PvP and group PvE, the only drawback being the rather low damage output, so solo play is more difficult. In return, a restoration shaman hardly ever dies while questing/soloing. ;See also: :Shaman talents :Shaman builds Equipment Shamans can wear leather armor at the start of the game and can train to wear mail armor after level 40. It is not uncommon for many shamans take up leatherworking as a profession because it's also used to craft mail armor with beneficial stats for shamans at higher levels. Shamans can use one-handed maces with shields, staves, daggers, fist weapons, one-handed axes, and two-handed axes and maces by default. Post-patch 2.0, enhancement shamans can dual wield. There are a number of end-game gear sets for shamans to use ranging from tier 1 to tier 12. There are also sets for PvP and all these sets can be found on the Shaman sets page. ;See also: :Enhancement gear BC :Wrath healing equipment (mail) :Shaman tactics Attributes See the main article Attributes. This breaks down specifically for shamans as follows: ;Primary attributes for Enhancement * Agility is the primary attribute. * Agility > Mastery > Crit > Haste > Hit (until hard Dual Wield melee cap at 21%) * Get to 17% spell hit (1742 hit rating) and 26 expertise (541 expertise rating, since we get 8 expertise from ). ;Primary attributes for Elemental. * Intellect is the primary attribute. * Intellect > Haste > Mastery > Crit * You want spell hit to 17% (1742 hit rating). Note that with Elemental Precision, you also gain spell hit rating from spirit. ;Primary attributes for Restoration. * Intellect is the primary attribute. *With High mana regen use **Haste > Intellect > Mastery > Crit > Spirit *With Low mana regen use **Intellect > Spirit > Crit > Mastery > Haste Abilities Totems Totems (taught by class trainer) are unique to the shaman, and only one of each elemental type can be used at a time. Once a totem is put down, it cannot be moved, but a new totem can always be summoned to replace it. With the spell Totemic Recall (available at level 30), shamans can instantly remove all of their totems for no mana and receive 25% of the mana spent on the totems back. However, shamans will see "Totem Timers" below their character portraits. As with buffs, a simple right-click to the "Totem Timer" icon, and the totem will be destroyed with no mana gain. * See the shaman totems page for complete list of totems, and additional details. Spells Shaman spells include direct damage spells, heals, and weapon buffs among others. Their spells are mostly based on the elements. Talents Shaman talents are split into 3 categories: * Elemental — improvements in offensive spells and offensive totems. * Enhancement — improvements in melee related skills and enhancement totems. * Restoration — improvements in healing and restoration totems. Talent builders can be found at Official Blizzard site, WoW Den's Talent Calculator, WorldofWar.se, WoW Vault, ThottBot, Merciless, Wowhead. Shaman also are graced with , a second hearthstone which sits on a seperate cooldown that is half as long as a traditional Hearthstone. Weapons * Maces (1-handed) * Staves (2-handed) * Shields (off-hand) * Daggers (1-handed) * Fist Weapons (1-handed) * Axes (1-handed) * Maces (2-handed) * Axes (2-handed) Two Handed Maces and Axes were originally a 10-point talent (Two-handed Axes and Maces) for Enhancement, but became proficiencies Talent-based enhancements *Offhand weapons ("Dual Wielding") Cannot use *Swords (1-handed or 2-handed) *Polearms *Ranged weapons (wands, bows, throwing weapons, crossbows, guns) '' Note: the inability of shamans to use ranged weapons makes the Troll's Throwing Weapon Specialization and Bow Specialization racial traits worthless for them.'' End-game expectations Totems are a major part of the end game and knowing what totems will benefit the shaman's group members best in different situations is all part of the strategy involved in playing a shaman. With the versatility that comes with a shaman you will always be the one patching up on various issues that your group might run into. If your party runs into an encounter which is very DPS heavy, you will find yourself supporting DPS, occasionally throwing in a heal if needed. The same goes for encounters that require lots of healing. A shaman's role in parties and raids will vary depending on how they choose to spend their talent points and equip themselves, as some of the shaman's versatility is diminished if they focus heavily on one tree. For example, a shaman who has specced enhancement (and geared accordingly) may have problems healing, due to the lack of crucial intellect/+healing/MP5 bonuses on their gear which restoration requires, but will greatly enhance melee group DPS in raids (enhancing warriors, rogues, and feral druids via Windfury Totem, and all physical damage classes via Unleashed Rage and Strength of Earth Totem). On the other hand a restoration shaman gets very little benefit from going melee due to the lack of +hit/+attack power, whereas elemental shamans can cast ranged DPS and still cast the occasional support heal (and possibly main heal any 5-man instance), still getting the bonuses (in most cases) from +heal/+spell damage. Specialization is all a matter of preference. Some shamans choose to go restoration, some elemental, and others enhancement. No matter which tree they follow, there are a lot of abilities that will benefit raid/party DPS, protection and healing. Patch 2.0 (just prior to Burning Crusade) added such talents as Totem of Wrath, and Unleashed Rage (depending on whatever you wish to go Melee or Caster shaman). * Remember that the beauty of the shaman is its versatility, and even though you tend to go one way with talents, remember that you still have access to the rest of your spells and abilities. See also * See Shamanism and nature worship to learn more about the shamans' beliefs. * See List of shamans for named shamans from lore and in-game. * Spell power coefficient. * A list of useful macros for shamans. References External Links barrens.chat Devner's guide to Shaman Tanking }}|desc= }} : }}|desc= }} : ;Old : : da:Shaman de:Schamane it:Shaman pl:Shaman Category:Shamans Category:Core classes Category:WoW classes Category:World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game Category:Classes